Religious

Newspaper reporter, author, and former atheist Lee Strobel, has created a new TV show called “Faith under fire” to be shown on the Pax network. It will involve persons from different faith groups debating religious beliefs. For example, one episode shows two religious scholars debating whether hell exists. Strobel said: “No topic is off-limits. … The point [of the show] is to really look at the evidence and where it points. For example, Islam and Christianity can’t both be right—they are either both wrong, or one of them is right. We wanted to talk to people about why they believe what they believe and examine what evidence they have for it.”

—The Hartford Courant, 10/1/2004

The Russian Secret Police in the early 20th century forged a document called “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.” It was based on an earlier French novel, and was promoted as evidence of an international Jewish conspiracy to rule the world. It is still circulated by some rabidly anti-Semitic groups, and is referred to by the media in some Muslim countries. It is available from Amazon.com and other online bookstores, which inform their buyers that the book is an anti-Semitic forgery.

—ReligiousTolerance.org website, 9/21/2004

In its first week of recruiting, Iran registered at least 10,000 young volunteers for “martyrdom operations” against Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the recruitment group, the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign. The calls to join the Army of Martyrs began in mosques, after which registration forms were distributed by the tens of thousands at local Islamic universities to prospective male and female suicide attackers.

—International Jerusalem Post, 9/30/2004

Explosions that damaged five churches in Baghdad have prompted some Christians to wonder whether it’s time to leave their ancient homeland. … Thousands of Christians have already left the country since the fall of Saddam’s regime and Saturday’s bombings were unwelcome news to the remaining Christians, about 3 per cent of Iraq’s population.

 —The Age (Australia), 10/18/2004

Nearly three years after the Taliban left Herat, Afghanistan, ending almost six years of repressive rule, millions of women are reentering the workforce. Eighty percent of women cannot read and do not work outside the home. Kobra Zeithi works for Habitat, the United Nations Center for Human Settlement. “We can work freely, comfortably now,” with men, she said. Ms. Zeithi said she could go anywhere provided she wears the Islamic veil. The restrictions on women now come from the men in their families, some of whom seem to have internalized the Taliban’s dictates.

—New York Times, 10/17/2004

Social

After more than two decades of research, scientists said they had found the first effective vaccine against malaria. Trials in Africa showed that the vaccine blocked almost half of new infections in young children and reduced serious disease by nearly 60%. Experts termed the results a major breakthrough in efforts to tame a disease that afflicts 400 million people each year, killing 1 million to 3 million—most of them children in Africa. Malaria is the leading killer of children under age 5 and ranks with AIDS and tuberculosis on the list of the world’s most lethal diseases.

—Los Angeles Times, 10/15/2004

In 2002 African Americans accounted for half of all new AIDS cases, and Latinos accounted for 20% according to the Centers for Disease Control. In the United States AIDS kills more black men between 25 and 44 than any other disease. More than a quarter of AIDS cases are now women, most of whom are black or Latina. Black females 15 and older are 15½ times more likely to die of AIDS than whites.

—Los Angeles Times, 10/16/2004

Haiti’s death toll from Tropical Storm Jeanne’s devastating floods rose to 3,006 as government officials released what they believe is the final tally. Jeanne lashed the Caribbean nation with rains that triggered massive flooding and mudslides and washed away whole villages. The toll climbed steadily as rescue workers [explored] remote areas and recovered bodies buried in mud. Those missing since the floods struck are presumed dead.

—Los Angeles Times 10/6/2004

Across Iraq, black-market pharmacists are roiling the country’s already-fragile health-care system, prompting authorities to launch a major effort to put them out of business. Officials at the Ministry of Health say that hundreds of Iraqis have fallen sick and dozens have died after taking drugs that were either contaminated, mislabeled or had expired. The existence of a thriving underground market for drugs and medicines is also being blamed for numerous instances of fraud and theft inside Iraq’s vast network of state-owned pharmaceutical warehouses.

—Wall Street Journal, 9/2/2004

U.S. climate researchers working at the edge of Peru’s Quelccaya ice cap discovered a long-frozen specimen of Distichia muscoides. Carbon dating showed this particular plant was 5,177 years old give or take 50 years. The botanical find is a potent symbol of twentieth century global warming. The Quelccaya is the world’s largest tropical glacier and sits only 14 degrees south of the equator, but at 18,600 feet above sea level it often gets snow and never rain. Yet today, the 7½ mile-long mountain glacier is disappearing fast. It’s losing about 100 feet a year, at a rate that is now about 40 times what it was in the 1970s. Its true that glaciers ebb and flow with the years, but the age of the ancient plant points to just how unusual today’s melting is.

—Science Journal, 10/22/2004

A government agency warned of a “potential famine” in Ethiopia during 2005, saying food shortages could affect up to 12 million people and the crisis, which could hit the country by the end of 2004, has worsened due to inadequate rainfall and a gradual loss of farmers’ assets. The government’s emergency arm, the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission, said earlier that “signs of malnutrition” and a deteriorating situation in many parts of the country were imminent. The United Nations said that 35 countries around the world, including 23 African nations, are experiencing food shortages. It also noted Ethiopia is facing “unfavorable prospects” for crops this year. In 2002, Ethiopia was hit by a serious crisis that left 14 million people dependent on food handouts.

—AllAfrica.com, 11/2/2004

Political

Former Mossad agent Gad Shimron reports that while the European Union attacks Israel for the partition fence it is building, the EU itself funds and operates a similar fence designed only to protect itself from illegal immigrants. The fence is located in a Spanish enclave in northwestern Africa, the coastal city of Ceuta just across the Straits of Gibraltar from Spain. Unknown to most of the world, when Spain handed over most of northern Morocco to the newly independent kingdom in 1956, Spain retained Ceuta and Melila. Poverty stricken Moroccans attempting to cross into Ceuta, from where they will then be able to work anywhere in Europe, are stopped in their tracks by an eight-meter-high, double layer fence.

—Arutz 7, Sept. 2004 (exact date unknown)

Iran added a “strategic missile” to its military arsenal after a successful test, and the defense minister said his country was ready to confront any external threat. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani … refused to give details about the missile for “security reasons,” but he said Iran was “ready to confront all regional and extra-regional threats.” Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Iran is a worldwide threat whose missiles can reach London, Paris, and southern Russia. Earlier this month, Israel said it was buying from the U.S. about 5,000 smart bombs, including 500 1-ton bunker-busters, which can destroy 6-foot-thick concrete walls. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has warned that Tehran will react “most severely” to any Israeli strike against its nuclear facilities.

—Associated Press, 9/25/2004

Hungary announced that it would withdraw its 300 troops from Iraq, becoming the latest country to bring its soldiers home. The United States had persuaded 32 countries to provide 22,000 soldiers as part of the multinational force established to stabilize postwar Iraq. Spain ... Dominican Republic … Nicaragua … Honduras … the Philippines … Norway [have all withdrawn their forces]. Poland, the fourth-largest contributor, with 2,400 troops, says it intends to withdraw by the end of next year, and the Netherlands, with 1,400 troops, said that the latest rotation of troops would be its last contribution to Iraq.

—International Herald Tribune, 11/4/2004

Financial

The U.S. National Weather Bureau and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology are warning of a possible El Niño, in which sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Basin remain warmer than usual and create worldwide climate changes. In Southeast Asia, a strong El Niño would likely trigger a drought that could wreak havoc with the region’s key agricultural industries. Whether Asia gets a serious El Niño or none this year, market watchers are starting to consider how the sometimes devastating weather phenomenon might affect prices of grain, cattle, palm oil, sugar and other commodities. El Niño normally occurs once every five to six years.

—Wall Street Journal, 9/1/2004

The borrowing boom has produced one disturbing trend—a six-fold increase in personal bankruptcies since 1980. Bankruptcy filings reached a record 1.625 million last year. Two decades ago they totaled 288,000. “We’ve allowed bankruptcy to become commonplace in America,” said Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor. “Last year more people filed for bankruptcy than filed for divorce or were diagnosed with cancer or graduated from college.”

—Los Angeles Times, 10/10/2004

China’s hunger for the world’s raw materials is beginning to cause alarm. Not only is it pushing world prices for key commodities higher but is also using its foreign exchange to buy into foreign resource companies, much to the consternation of overseas nationals. China’s growing demand for raw materials has led to a surge in the prices of metals [in 2004]. Rising Chinese demand has also led to shortages, globally, of both copper and nickel. Chinese demand has driven iron ore and coking coal prices to record highs, robbing Japanese steel firms—once the world’s largest commodity buyers—of the ability to set prices. As China has become the world’s largest importer of iron ore, the Japanese now have to compete for supplies.

—Global Info.org, 10/29/2004

The US current account deficit ballooned to a record $166 billion in the second quarter, underlining the mounting imbalances in the global economy. The deficit was unprecedented both in dollar terms and relative to the size of the economy, reaching 5.7 per cent of national income. Economists said it raised the risk of a further slide in the dollar but that there were no signs so far that the US was struggling to attract foreign capital to finance the gap. “This is an accident waiting to happen,” said Nigel Gault, director of US research at Global Insight. “But the accident might not necessarily happen any time soon.” The US has been helped in funding the deficit by Asian central banks, which have been buying dollars to prevent appreciation of their currencies from damaging exports.

—Financial Times, 9/15/2004

U.S. Airways Group threatens to freeze or terminate pension plans. UAL stops putting money into its pension plans. The city of San Diego, struggling to meet generous pension promises, closes swimming pools and libraries to save money. Congress ponders how much to make the elderly pay for rising Medicare costs and how much to make younger taxpaying workers pick up. The next couple of decades will bring more headlines like these. The cost of pension and health-care promises that the U.S. and other countries have made to retirees is becoming painfully evident. We’re just beginning to see tension between younger workers and older retirees over how big a slice of the pie each group will get.

—Wall Street Journal, 9/16/2004

DeGolyer & Macnaughton, the respected Dallas company that audits oil reserve totals for most of the Russian oil industry, said that West Siberia alone could hold twice as much recoverable crude as currently estimated. That’s enough to allow Russia to produce 10 million barrels a day for the next 50 years and beyond. Russia is the only country where such huge reserves are available to foreign investors. This discovery makes Russia the world’s largest oil producer outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and makes a major contribution toward Moscow’s heightened international clout.

—Wall Street Journal, 9/30/2004

Israel

There has been an 84 percent decrease in the number of Israelis killed in terror attacks since the completion of the first portion of the security fence, which comprises 134 kilometers [83 miles] between Salem and Elkana. A Shin Bet (Israeli internal security organization) report released on September 27, which summed up the first four years since the outbreak of violence in September 2000, revealed that since the fence’s completion, terrorist organizations operating in Samaria succeeded in perpetrating six suicide bomb attacks inside Israel in which 30 Israelis were killed; 73 suicide bomb attacks killed 293 Israelis since the outbreak of violence in September 2000. A total of 1,017 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in terror attacks in the past four years.

—Jerusalem Post, 9/28/2004

The European Union (EU) is heading for a row over ties with Israel as it attempts to introduce a major new policy designed to bring the bloc closer to its neighbors, EU diplomats said. The dispute hinges on whether the EU should extend highly advantageous economic and political ties to Israel while at the same time condemning the Jewish state for [alleged] disproportionate use of force against Palestinians in Gaza. The EU is a member of a “Quartet”—with the United States, the United Nations, and Russia—promoting peace in the Middle East.

—Reuters, 10/7/2004

The first three quarters of 2004 have seen almost a 50 percent Israeli increase in trade with Arab countries. Despite the Oslo War, Israel’s economic relations with Arab states seem to be warming up. Israel’s trade with Arab states rose a total of 47.4% so far in 2004 to US$169.7 million, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. In September the Arab League’s Israel Boycott Bureau called upon the European Union to suspend preferred trade relations with Israel and to enforce a EU boycott of Israeli products from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

—Arutz 7, 9/21/2004

U.S. President George Bush is expected to call on Europe to assume a key role in helping the new Palestinian leadership [following the death of Yassar Arafat] build and support institutions and prepare for negotiations with Israel. Such a call would represent a notable increase in cooperation between Washington and its European allies over the Middle East. According to many officials and diplomats, the administration favors a change in the American approach of backing Mr. Sharon’s settlement expansions and his hard line in the West Bank. In recent months, Bush has given Mr. Sharon leeway to proceed with West Bank settlement. Lately, however, European, Arab and Palestinian leaders have begun expressing disdain for the Gaza plan, claiming Israel wants to totally undermine Palestinian communities.

—New York Times, 11/12/2004

The Israeli Plants Production and Marketing Board is optimistic about citrus exports this winter season. It predicts a 36 percent growth in exports, by volume, to 188,000 tons, and a 40 percent increase in value, to US$162 million. Israel expects a bumper citrus crop of 600,000 tons, a third more than last year. The citrus crop in other Mediterranean countries is expected to increase by only 3 percent.

—Globes Report, 10/14/2004

Book Review

Running on Empty, Peter G. Peterson. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2004. 239 pages.

In the 1916 forward to The Battle of Armageddon, Pastor C. T. Russell suggested that the bankruptcy of nations would lead to anarchy and the final throes of Armageddon. Although his vision of this as the natural outcome of debts incurred in the first world war did not come to pass, it need not mean the expectation was wrong. Peterson details a future course of deficit spending created by war, budget and trade deficits, and social promises that lead down the same path.

Growing deficits combined with net household consumption (consumer savings less consumer purchases) are causing a scenario that could lead to global disaster. Peterson presents evidence that even today savings as a percent of Gross Domestic Product has declined to the same level as it was just prior to the Great Depression.

The most troubling aspect of his analysis is the future burden that will be placed on America by the liability accumulating in social and welfare programs. In March 2004, the Social Security and Medicare trustees estimated the unfunded benefit liabilities of current programs to be $74 trillion. This does not show up in any government accounting because of the use of cash accounting (pay as you go) rather than accrual accounting as is required by corporations. While politicians like to discuss surpluses during certain administrations, Peterson shows how this is nothing but political rhetoric. Peterson shows no bias in his views, but cites the promises and legislation of all political parties in adding to the problem.

The war on terrorism adds another troubling scenario. Today’s high tech wars such as that being waged in Iraq are estimated to cost $1 billion per week.

Although most doomsday authors make predictions that never come to pass, Peterson’s thought-provoking analysis is based on liabilities that already exist. He is an economist and member of the highly respected Blackstone Group. His book ends with a call to change direction. Most Bible Students will see that any such changes are not likely because one cannot reverse the hearts of men during the current age. Among the solutions offered are mandated savings, Medicare reform which eliminates new drug research aimed at prolonging life, the elimination of life-sustaining and neo-natal benefits, and the radical overhauling of the current two-party system in the U.S.

Running on Empty offers a stark view of why the current course of the United States and other nations cannot continue without a day of reckoning. That day of reckoning will likely be the precedent to the final stages of Armageddon—perhaps within the next thirty years.

—Len Griehs